KEY POINTS
- A Utah woman died four days after receiving the second dose of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine
- A blood test showed that his liver was failing
- Health officials found no evidence that the vaccine directly caused his death
A Utah woman died four days after receiving her second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to a recent analysis.
An investigation conducted with the Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System found that Kassidi Kurill, a 39-year-old single mother from Ogden, died after receiving the second injection of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine on February 1.
Families and caregivers can report the side effects of coronavirus and deaths to the notification system, which was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.
Kurill’s family described her as a happy, healthy person who “had more energy” than the people around her. Her family also said that the single mother had no known health problems or pre-existing conditions.
Alfred Hawley, Kurill’s father, said the 39-year-old man entered his room on Thursday morning while feeling ill.
“She came early and said her heart was racing and she felt she needed to go to the emergency room,” said Hawley.
The father said that Kurill fell ill “immediately” after receiving the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine and also felt pain at the injection site. Her daughter also had difficulty urinating.
“She fell ill immediately, felt pain at the injection site, then started to get sick, started complaining that she was drinking too much liquid, but she couldn’t pee, and felt a little better the next day,” he recalled.
Emergency room doctors discovered, through a blood test, that his liver was not functioning well. She was later taken to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, where medical staff began preparing her for a liver transplant.
Kurill died 30 hours after arriving at the emergency room after his liver, kidneys and heart stopped.
A Utah Department of Health spokesman said on Tuesday that they found no evidence that the vaccine contributed to the patient’s death. Utah health officials have also emphasized that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.
Dr. Erik Christensen, Utah’s chief coroner, said proving vaccine injury as a cause of death is “very difficult to demonstrate.” An official autopsy report can only report the vaccine as the cause of death if the patient has suffered an immediate case of anaphylaxis.
“Without it, it would be difficult for us to say definitively that this is the vaccine,” said Christensen.
